APHIS OPIMA. 101 



Aphis opima, Bucldon. Plate LXXI. 

 Apterous viviparous female. 



Inch. Millimetres. 



Size of body 0-090X0-050 2-27xl-27. 



Length, of antennge 0*060 1"52. 



cornicles O'OIO 0-25. 



Rather large. Globose, glaucous green, blotched 

 and stained with darker green, transparent. Head 

 broad, eyes reddish brown. Thorax and prothorax 

 nearly confluent. Abdomen domed. Antennae and 

 legs pale green. Cornicles straight and brown. Tail 

 very obtuse and inconspicuous. 



After a few moultings of skin a quantity of brown 

 pigment is deposited in spots on the back and sides. 

 This brown colour extends to the bases of the an- 

 tennae, the coxEe, and the tarsi. It encroaches more 

 and more on the green, until the insect by age finally 

 becomes almost wholly brown or shining black. The 

 legs and the middle antennal joints alone are left of a 

 fine amber-yellow. 



The underside is green, with black anal and vaginal 

 plates. Rostrum tipped with brown and reaches to the 

 second coxae. 



This insect becomes bloated and distended from the 

 quantity of sap it draws from the axils and leaf-stalks 

 of the Cin^raria,^to which plant it does great injury. 

 It appears even to poison the plants it attacks, for 

 the leaves droop and rot off in a manner far more 

 marked than could be occasioned by the mere amount 

 of sap abstracted. 



A row of poreS; distinct from the stigmata, occur 

 down each side of the back. When the insect is irri- 

 tated by a bristle or otherwise, bright drops exude 

 from these as well as from the nectaries. These drops 

 speedily crystallise into a sugar-like mass. 



The young are very active, and rove much up and 



